astronomy

Mount Lemmon Survey

Mount Lemmon Survey is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mount Lemmon Survey rather than just read about it. In short: Mount Lemmon Survey (MLS) is a part of the Catalina Sky Survey with observatory code G96. MLS uses a 1.52 m (60 in) cassegrain reflector telescope (with 10560x10560-pixel camera at the f/1.6 prime focus, for a five square degree field of view) operated by the Steward Observatory at Mount Lemmon Observatory, which is located at 2,791 meters (9,157 ft) in the Santa Catalina Mountains northeast of Tucson, Arizona.

Key takeaways

Mount Lemmon Survey belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mount Lemmon Survey to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mount Lemmon Survey from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mount Lemmon Survey (MLS) is a part of the Catalina Sky Survey with observatory code G96. MLS uses a 1.52 m (60 in) cassegrain reflector telescope (with 10560x10560-pixel camera at the f/1.6 prime focus, for a five square degree field of view) operated by the Steward Observatory at Mount Lemmon Observatory, which is located at 2,791 meters (9,157 ft) in the Santa Catalina Mountains northeast of Tucson, Arizona. It is currently one of the most prolific surveys worldwide, especially for discovering near-Earth objects. MLS ranks among the top discoverers on the Minor Planet Center's discovery chart with a total of more than 170,000 numbered minor planets.

History Andrea Boattini and the survey accidentally rediscovered 206P/Barnard-Boattini, a lost comet, on 7 October 2008. The comet has made 20 revolutions since 1892 and passed within 0.3–0.4 AU of Jupiter in 1922, 1934 and 2005. This comet was also the first comet to be discovered by photographic means, by the American astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard, who did so on the night of 13 October 1892. On 12 January 2008, Mount Lemmon Survey discovered the near-Earth asteroid 2008 AO112 at an apparent magnitude of 21 using a 1.5-meter (59 in) reflecting telescope. 2011 UN63 was discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey on 27 September 2009 and it is a stable L5 Mars trojan asteroid. The survey also discovered the unusual Aten asteroid 2012 FC71, a dynamically cold Kozai resonator, on 31 March 2012.

See also List of astronomical observatories List of minor planet discoverers § Discovering dedicated institutions Mount Lemmon

References

External links NEODyS

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mount Lemmon Survey

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mount Lemmon Survey claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mount Lemmon Survey before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mount Lemmon Survey ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mount Lemmon Survey

In research: Mount Lemmon Survey appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mount Lemmon Survey in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mount Lemmon Survey is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Astronomical observatories in Arizona, Astronomical surveys, Discoverers of comets, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mount Lemmon Survey outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Mount Lemmon Survey” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Mount Lemmon Survey in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mount Lemmon Survey means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mount Lemmon Survey out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mount Lemmon Survey in simple terms?

Why does Mount Lemmon Survey matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mount Lemmon Survey?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mount Lemmon Survey.